Family Guy Volume 1

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The first two seasons of the controversial animated show finally arrive on Region 1 DVD.

By Jeremy Conrad

In early 1999, Fox debuted a controversial animated show titled Family Guy. Like Futurama, Family Guy was the victim of horrible time slots and unpredictable airings. Also like that futuristic animated show, Fox recently canceled it.

Available for quite a while on Region 2 DVD, the popular show has finally arrived in the US. It's just too bad the set doesn't look as good as the US Futurama DVDs or even many other animated discs.

The Show

Family Guy is possibly the most politically incorrect show that you'll ever see. It's about your "typical" American family that takes bits of The Simpsons and South Park, and mixes them together with the most offensive storylines you can imagine. Some of the humor is tied to actual news events of the time period, such as the when teething one-year-old Stewie was begging for death. He screams, "Shake me! Shake me like a British nanny!"

It really does get as offensive as you'd expect, but that's what made the show so funny. There aren't many shows on TV that are this sharp, or brave enough to offend everyone on the face of the planet. It actually got so bad that one episode from late in the series' run was actually banned from ever airing on television.

This Volume 1 DVD collection includes all seven episodes from the first year of the show, as well as the full 21-episode second season. Here's what you'll find on the four discs:

Disc One:

Death Has a Shadow

I Never Met the Dead Man

Chitty Chitty Death Bang

Mind Over Murder

A Hero Sits Next Door

The Son Also Draws

Brian: Portrait of a Dog

Disc Two:

Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater

Holy Crap

DaBoom

Brian in Love

Love Thy Trophy

Death is a Bitch

The King is Dead

Reaction to "That 80's Show"

Disc Three:

I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar

If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'

Running Mates

A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Bucks

Fifteen Minutes of Shame

Road to Rhode Island

Let's Go to the Hop

Disc Four:

Dammit Janet!

There's Something About Paulie

He's Too Sexy for His Fat

E. Peterbus Unum

The Story on Page 1

Wasted Talent

Fore, Father

Evil monkey!

That's more than 624 minutes of pure Family Guy insanity. It isn't completely perfect however, as the "Road to Rhode Island" episode is missing the Osama Bin Laden joke. Although, legend has it that the bit was edited out of the show at creator Seth McFarlane's request. Also, the Season two "banned" episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein" is not included on this set, even though it is on the Region 2 release of Season 2.

If not for that one missing episode, this set would've scored a bit higher. If you find offensive humor funny, chances are you'll love this show.

8 out of 10

The fans weren't too happy with the show getting canned.

The Video

You know, Family Guy fans have been waiting so long for this DVD nothing I can say here can change their decision about the set. But, the video here is pretty bad and doesn't even compare well to the recent Futurama set or even the Simpsons seasons.

The problem? Well, the colors look fine and vibrant, but the image is seriously hurt by some major aliasing and jerkiness. It's not just in one episode, just about all of them are plagued with this problem.

7 out of 10

Peter ain't that bright.

The Audio

All 28 episodes included in this set are presented in regular old 2.0 Dolby Surround. As you'd expect, the shows sound about the same as they did when they originally aired on television, if not just a little bit clearer with slightly crisper dialog and music. While some may have wanted a 5.1 remix, it is really unnecessary for a show such as this.

6 out of 10

Fat Stewie!

The Extras

Family Guy's extras are organized like other Fox television DVDs, which means that they are spread across all four discs. Each disc features two commentary tracks, and there are also promo spots and a short featurette included on the set. Also, each disc features a "play all" option so you're able to just sit back and watch all of the episodes on that disc without interruption.

Disc one features short internet promos for the show that originally aired on Fox.com. These run from ten to thirty seconds. There's commentary on the first episode "Death Has a Shadow" by Seth McFarlane, Alex Borstein, and David Zuckerman, and commentary on "The Son Also Draws" by Seth McFarlane, Craig Hoffman, Alex Borstein, and Chris Sheridan. Disc two's commentaries are on "Peter Peter Caviar Eater" (Seth McFarlane, Chris Sheridan, Ron Jones, and Seth Green) and "Holy Crap" (Seth McFarlane, Danny Smith, Chris Sheridan, and Steve Callaghan). Disc three includes commentaries on "Fifteen Minutes of Shame" by Seth McFarlane, Steve Callaghan, and Lisa Wilhoit and on "Let's Go to The Hop" by Seth McFarlane, Steve Callaghan, Matt Weitzman, and Seth Gree. Finally, on disc four you can hear Seth McFarlane, Steve Callaghan, Chris Sheridan, and Danny Smith on "He's Too Sexy for His Fat" and Seth McFarlane, Neil Goldman, Garrett Donovan, and Greg Garcia on "E Peterbus Unum".

All eight commentary tracks are hilarious, and they get so extreme Fox even had to put a "parental discretion" warning at the beginning of the discs so little fragile minds wouldn't be corrupted by the commentaries.

The only other extra on the disc is a three-minute commercial for the show that is called a "behind-the-scenes" special, but there's only so much that can be shown in such a short time.